Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) may have soothed the angst of the service pack hungry masses by releasing Vista SP1 to manufacturing, but users won't be able to actually download it until mid-March at the earliest, company officials said Monday.

During beta testing for Vista SP1, Microsoft found that some device drivers were causing problems on systems with SP1 installed. Although the issues can be fixed by uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers, Microsoft decided this would be too complicated for most users. As a result, Microsoft will spend the next month hunting for additional problematic device drivers, said David Zipkin, senior product manager in Windows Client Group. "With drivers, we wanted to make sure when folks upgrade to Vista that they have a smooth experience," Zipkin said.